Viewing the Fireworks from Above the Crowds

I’m a fireworks kind of person. First of all, I grew up in DC, where Independence Day fireworks are something of a religious event. Then add to that my pyromaniac tendencies and general fondness for smash-it-up kinds of stuff and you get a fireworks fan.

You probably already know you can find listings of the fireworks displays in LA and neighboring counties at the LA Times. But if you’re looking for something a little different this year, you might want to contemplate an aerial view. Some possibilities after the jump.

Markland is one of several I know who swears by the view from Yamashiro. Myself, if I were looking for an aerie for the fourth, I’d try Griffith Observatory. They are open until 10 on the fourth, and barring a good view, you can always reenact scenes from Rebel Without a Cause for fun (“I’ve got the bullets!”). One overhead perch I have already sampled is the view from Mount Lowe over the Rose Bowl fireworks, courtesy of a moonlight hike with the Sierra Club. As I’ve mentioned here before, it’s not, to be honest, as dramatic and spectacular as the view from the ground, but it’s novel and a fun way to meet some of LA’s canapé-crunching hikers. Finally, if you’re a DIY kind of guy and are still shopping for some holiday explosives, the LA Times has a map of cities that allow fireworks. Yesterday the map was titled “where to buy them”; today someone seems to have made the correction and retitled it “where they’re legal.” Good looking out, LA Times. And do be careful, pyro readers. It’s really dry out there. Not good conditions for setting fire to things. Might be a good don’t-try-this-at-home year.

I’ve watched from the top of the parking garage at the Burbank Mall (not sure if it’s still called Media City Center). Also, we always go to one of the three nights at the Hollywood Bowl. We went last night. Their fireworks always impress. For tomorrow, we have a friend who lives very close to where they do the Culver City fireworks and we’ll watch from his back yard or roof. We did that last year and it was amazing.

4th of July in El Sereno {seesmic_video:{“url_thumbnail”:{“value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/7a1sTwqMGe_th1.jpg”}”title”:{“value”:”4th of July in El Sereno “}”videoUri”:{“value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/Z0Z0JYj7N4″}}}

Have fun everyone! SnarkyDork–I watched the CC fireworks last year from a bridge somewhere nearby. (Thus no cf at the parking lot, etc.) Very fun and a good show. This year–who knows… probably not El Sereno (have fun Faboo) or Pasadena or the Standard (you too Fraz and Samba) but nothing is out of the question.

We usually just walk around Hi-Fi. We can see stuff from all over the city just standing on the corner of Court and Belmont, and, much like Faboo’s El Sereno, there’s streetfuls of insane little kids blowing up all kinds of stuff in between.

In Ireland ( Republic of, where I live) fireworks have been illegal since 1922, and under the Explosives Act of that year, possession or sale is punishable by fines or imprisonment of up to fourteen years ( I checked). The reason for this is to prevent any nascent freedom fighters from buying a load of fireworks, taking all the gunpowder out and using it to make a bomb to help free Ireland (the Northern part, where all the trouble has been.) Oddly enough, fireworks are legal in the North, and one of the first things you see when you cross the Border into the North is a large fireworks shop, advertising fireworks priced in Euros…